Prior art of possible relevance includes the following U.S. Pat Nos. 3,944,196 issued Mar. 16, 1976 to Schwartzkopf and 3,953,085 issued Apr. 27, 1976 to Randour.
Crawler type vehicles require recoil systems for maintaining the crawler track in a fairly taut condition and yet provide sufficient "give" to absorb the heavy stresses placed upon the track when the vehicle is traveling over uneven terrain.
The components of such recoil systems must often be serviced and/or replaced in the field and therefore maintenance must be capable of being performed with equipment that can be readily conveyed to the field as opposed to equipment that can only easily be located in a factory or the like.
Typically, the recoil systems use extremely large springs and the same are typically preloaded to a desired degree to maintain a desired tension in the track. Thus, it is desirable that the springs can be handled safely in the field as well as suitably preloaded there. It is also desirable that all components of the system including a spring recoil assembly, an adjuster assembly for setting the preload on the spring, etc. can be suitably handled regardless of location of the vehicle with which they are used.